Demolition begins in Pontiac blight project

Demolition on the first dilapidated home in Pontiac targeted by the Detroit Blight Authority began Wednesday.

Demolition on the first dilapidated home in Pontiac targeted by the Detroit Blight Authority began Wednesday.

How many of the city's roughly 550 blighted homes the nonprofit will target remains unknown, said Bill Pulte, founder and chairman of the nonprofit. However, at least two more on Thorpe Street, site of the first dilapidated home, are expected to be demolished.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said he hopes demolition of those homes will take place in a matter of “months, not years.”

A neighbor of the home at 70 Thorpe St. said it had been overcome with rats and other vermin. He said he had lived there for about four years.

About $3.2 million in federal Community Redevelopment Block Grant and $1 million from the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund will initially fund the effort, but Patterson said it would likely take more than that $4.2 million to eliminate Pontiac's blight. Pulte has been raising money from companies and charities.

The Detroit Blight Authority had been focusing on structural blight removal until Detroit officials said requested that Pulte stop his efforts in Detroit so the city could start taking on the blight removal efforts itself.

Patterson said he has known Pulte for 10-15 years and immediately called him once he heard that the nonprofit would be focusing its efforts elsewhere.

In June, the U.S. Department of Treasury granted Michigan approval of $100 million in federal funds for blight removal in Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, Saginaw and Grand Rapids. Those funds were repurposed from the Hardest Hit Fund, part of the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program. Of the $100 million, Pontiac received $3.7 million.